ADS Installation and Configuration in NW7.3 or higher

Introduction:Adobe Document Services (ADS) enable form-based processing of business data triggered by both ABAP- and Java-based applications. It is an additional SAP NetWeaver solution extension included in the SAP NetWeaver usage type AS Java

telnet localhost <telnet port> and login with administrator of AS Java user to re-connect to Deploy ControllerTelnet.

Execute get_result to view results of deployment.

Open http://<AS Java hostname>:<port>/monitoring/ComponentInfo and verify that ADSSAP is listed under System information: Components Info.

Configuration: As ADSare running on an AS Java (PI) and form processing is performed in an ABAP (ECC) environment, we have to configure the communicationbetween the Form Processing Framework running on AS ABAP and the ADS running onAS Java.

Specify the server name and http port number of the additional stand-alone AS Java.

You also need to update the corresponding user and password information on the ‘Logon/Security’ tab.

4. Make sure that create the user ADS_AGENT with thecorresponding role SAP_BC_FP_ICF and SAP_BC_FPADS_ICF exist in AS ABAP. If thisuser does not exist, create it according to the steps in ADS ConfigurationGuide.

Note:When you do connection test for ADS destination in SM59 the result can be “HTTPresponse: (405) Method not allowed”. This is normal.

5. Open transaction SICF.

6. Choosedefault_host → sap → bc → fp in the tree.

7.Choose Service/Virt.Host → Activate

8. If AS ABAP and AS Java (with ADS) are installed in different systems, and you want to bundle your forms to improve performance, you also have to activate the fpads ICFservice.

AS Java configuration:

Log on to the NetWeaver Administrator of your additional standalone AS Java.

Select Server -> Service -> destination -> HTTP.

Create an entry ‘FP_ICF_DATA_<SID>’, where <SID> is the ABAP backend System ID.

Enter the ABAP HTTP port (http://<servername>:<port>) in the ‘URL’ field.

Enter the user ‘ADS_AGENT’ in the User name field, and the corresponding password of ABAP backend system.

Save your entries.

Note: Whenyou do ping test for the destination the result can be “Error 404: Not found”.This is normal.

As Java configuration for WebDynpro Application:

1.Log on to the NetWeaver Administrator of your additional standalone AS Java.

As you say it’s horses for courses in terms of architecture. We went with a dedicated stack for ADS due to CPU+Mem consumption (big/complex Interactive forms can consume up to 1.2GB heap during rendering and burn one CPU) and to mitigate cross component patching requirement conflicts.

Historically ADS used to be supported only on 32-bit architecture (a limitation of the Adobe component), even while everything else on the Java stack worked in 64-bit, so this was one reason why ADS might have been installed on a dedicated host. Fortunately, this is no longer the case and hasn’t been for some time, so this limitation is gone.

Nevertheless, I still prefer to keep this separate, especially as it’s not a big deal to spin up a VMware instance to run it. This way, with no additional functions, there are no limitations on NetWeaver versions, and thus you can freely run ADS on the latest and greatest NW 7.4 stack without worrying about interoperability with the rest of your landscape.

Like Amerjit, we’re also running custom interactive forms through ADS, although I wouldn’t call our usage very heavy. However, that’s one additional piece that could be written about for ADS configuration: the installation of the Adobe Reader Rights Credential for interactive forms. I don’t think I’ve seen that mentioned in any of the various ADS blogs or documents I’ve come across.

No, certificates are part-and-parcel of the SSL protocol. However, if this is just for testing or internal-only use for a small number of people, you don’t necessarily have to get the certificates signed. Just add them as trusted exceptions to the browsers of all your users.